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Monday, August 28, 2017

Good & Scary!

I like a good scary story---those imaginary nightmare scenarios that a good author brings to life in the pages of a suspense or horror novel. But what makes The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston truly scary is that everything in it really happened. (And it could happen again.) It's a very compelling....and frightening read. I couldn't put it down.

Here are some of the scary facts from The Hot Zone that just might keep you up at night:

The Marburg virus and the three identified strains of Ebola are Level 4 agents. "A Level 4 hot agent is a lethal virus for which there is no vaccine and no cure."

"No one knew where any of (these) filoviruses came from; no one knew where they lived in nature...And they didn't know exactly how the virus spread, or how it jumped from host to host."

"The worst of them was Ebola Zaire. The kill rate in humans infected with Ebola Zaire is nine out of ten. Ebola Zaire is a slate wiper in humans."

"From the moment Ebola enters your bloodstream, the war is already lost...you can't fight off Ebola the way you fight off a cold." (Although some people do recover from it.)

"We don't really know what Ebola has done in the past, and we don't know what it might do in the future."

"....viruses never go away; they only hide..."

Happy Reading!

Other "scary" reads to check out:

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen

I find Ebola fascinating, too. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's so scary. (And I know what you mean about finding room in your reading life for non-fiction books; I've worked really hard this year to fit them in.)

I have this book on my TBR list. Don't know why these diseases are so fascinating. I read The Lassa Ward by Dr. Ross Donaldson. Lassa is similar to Marburg & Ebola. It is about his experiences as a young medical student in the Lassa ward in Sierra Leone. Great book. I will have to move The Hot Zone up my list!